STATE SUPREME COURT: Committee To Unseat Judges Runs Ad

      The committee working to unseat state Supreme Court Justices Ronald George and Ming Chin, motivated by the judges' votes against a law that "would have required minors to get a parent's permission for an abortion," has aired a radio spot stating that George and Chin "personally overturned" the statute, and asks listeners to "do something about this blatant judicial activism." The AP/Modesto Bee reports that one character in the ad asks, "[George] changed the law just because he didn't like it?" "He and Justice Ming Chin did," is the reply. Another voice asks, "So if my 15-year-old gets pregnant, she doesn't have to get my consent to get an abortion?" In response to the ad, Peter DeMarco, spokesperson for George's campaign, said, "The court ruled that this law was unconstitutional. No personal feeling was ever interpreted into this." Chin spokesperson Tupper Hull said, "They did not overturn the parental consent law just because they didn't like it. No one who read the lengthy and reasoned decision in that case could ever come to such an absurd conclusion." The George and Chin reelection campaigns have raised $705,000 and $625,000, respectively, while the campaign to unseat them "has raised under $30,000." Neither justice plans to run any advertisements, but "will buy space on commercial slate endorsement cards." Opposition campaign spokesperson Mike Spence, who is also vice president of the California ProLife Council, said the ad has only run in Bakersfield due to limited funds, but that the spots will be aired in Fresno and San Diego if money is available (Egelko, AP/Modesto Bee, 10/27). Click here for previous coverage of this race.